Patrol Officer William Eickhoff of the City of Midland Police Department leans into the backseat of his open cruiser to discuss options to a man arrested for Operating While Intoxicated after his questionable driving was reported. A resident of Saginaw, Eickhoff has been with the City of Midland for the past three years. Both his father and grandfather were in the military. "I wanted to do something similar," Eickhoff said. He says the events of September 11, 2001 also had an impact of his decision to enter into a career of service.

Hanging out with the police at night is both long, as the time often passes slowly between calls, and exhilarating, thinking of how so many times routine calls or traffic stops could change from that of peace to something not and you don't know that it's happening until you're in the thick of it. That's from my outsider, non-trained civilian point-of-view. But it's far from the television show, 'Cops,' Patrol Officer Eickhoff told me. Something I wanted to avoid talking about assuming that is often a false perception of an ordinary night on patrol. Those crews could be riding for weeks just to get their clip from an incident. Crime happens everywhere, but that high drama show probably won't be filmed in Midland anytime soon.

After failing a field breathalyzer test, a man waits to be booked into the Midland County Jail until he becomes sober the next morning. He was told that the estimated time would be around 10 AM, nearly eight hours after being arrested.

On this particular night, we cruised the streets of downtown Midland then headed off around the city, responding to a call that came across as an overdose (it was not), a girl reported walking on the side of the road (no girl in sight when we arrived to location shortly after receiving the call), twice to a noise complaint at the same home (a few friends just hanging out in their backyard not really making much noise), a speed trap (coffee necessary), a driver without a license (running an errand in a friend's car), a home where the wife called to report her missing husband (who left shortly earlier), and took someone to jail who was driving a yellow sports car while being over the legal limit. All in all, it wasn't a very busy night, but it was interesting nonetheless.